The Minneapolis-based Mixed Martial Arts event, “Riot at the Hyatt” was a packed house by the end of the show. There were, however, two stand out performances of the night that many fans who showed up late may have missed. The first was an …
The Minneapolis-based Mixed Martial Arts event, “Riot at the Hyatt” was a packed house by the end of the show. There were, however, two stand out performances of the night that many fans who showed up late may have missed.
The first was an amateur bout between Nick Jessen and Andre “The Diva” Tieva. The fight went the distance with Tieva getting the win via unanimous decision.
The amateur bout had an exciting pace that never slowed. Tieva showcased impressive striking, take downs, and an ability to work off his back.
It was Tieva’s second fight to go the distance, leaving him with an undefeated amateur record at 5-0.
Tieva plans to go pro in early 2012 and currently trains with UFC veterans like Jacob Volkman, Nik Lentz, and Greg Nelson at the Academy in Minneapolis.
The second fight that stood out was between Chris Lane and Michael “The Marine” Richman. At 1:43 of the first round Richman walked away with a TKO victory due to corner stoppage.
While Richman did receive a broken nose, his stand up was very impressive. He looked eager to push the pace and dropped Lane with a couple of great body shots.
Once his opponent was on the ground, Richman laid into him with some vicious ground and pound before Lane’s corner threw in the towel.
Richman also trains out of the Academy in Minneapolis and has earned a record of 10-1, which includes his victory over Lane.
Both of these Midwestern warriors showed lots of promise, great skill, and an ability to dictate the pace of their fight. Be sure to keep your eye on them as they evolve through the sport.
It’s time to look into the British MMA scene once again, and having tested the waters of the pay-per-view market, Ultimate Challenge MMA returned to their regular television home with their latest show, Go 4 It!, shown on Sky Sports this past Wed…
It’s time to look into the British MMA scene once again, and having tested the waters of the pay-per-view market, Ultimate Challenge MMA returned to their regular television home with their latest show, Go 4 It!, shown on Sky Sports this past Wednesday evening .
The broadcast began with middleweight action as Bret Bassett faced Ben Craggy.
This was a nice way to start the show. Craggy was hoping to keep the fight upright, but after Bassett caught one of his kicks it was downhill all the way.
Bassett soon scored with an impressive take down and dominated on the ground in the first round before taking his good form into the second where he went for a variety of leg submissions before Craggy managed to work his way out and into Bassett’s guard.
It wasn’t long before Bassett was back into control and going for an arm bar. Craggy tried to fight the hold but was soon verbally tapping, giving Bassett the impressive submission win.
Then it was on to a catchweight fight as Davin Byfield took on Rae Edgar.
Edgar, who was making his professional debut, soon found out what the game was all about. After Byfield caught his kick, he was pushed back against the cage. Byfield then applied a standing arm triangle, quickly taking it to the ground.
However, his positions weren’t quite right, and Edgar eventually managed to escape. But he soon began to look like a fish out of water as Byfield went to work, dominating on the ground and getting the submission win with a rear naked choke. Good work from Byfield, but Edgar looked completely out of his depth.
Action from the welterweight division followed as Ross Pointon took on Jamaine Facey.
This was a strange one. The fight began with both men eyeing each other up for the first minute or so before Pointon scored with the takedown.
Facey managed to reverse the positions though, and after a brief ground and pound flurry the fighters got back to their feet where Facey delivered some more heavy blows.
But instead of going in for the kill Facey held back, and once again the fighters began to eye each other up for a minute or so, and I couldn’t help but think that if Facey had kept up his attack he’d have had the win in the bag.
Then Facey suddenly exploded into action with a big knee that rocked Pointon. He followed this up with some ground and pound before the referee stepped in to give Facey the TKO win.
The Featherweight title was on the line next as challenger Cory Tait went up against champion Nathan Beer.
This was an intriguing and rather scrappy battle. Beer scored with the early takedown and looked to dominate on the ground, but Tait found some novel ways of escaping.
The striking battle looked a little scrappy at times, but by the time the second round started Beer scored with another takedown, only for Tait to escape again.
Moments later, Tait got locked in a standing guillotine against the cage, and although he managed to escape he looked out of it. Tait took control with a series of kicks and punches, and with Beer looking out on his feet, and with me wondering why the referee hadn’t stepped in, Tait connected with a spinning back fist that sent the champion crashing to the mat, with the referee stepping in to give Tait the title winning KO win.
The title action continued with Darren Towler facing Ben Smith for the vacant Heavyweight title.
Towler came forward early on, unloading with the heavy leather. Smith tried to counter with a takedown but it wasn’t long before Towler was unloading with the heavy stuff once again, connecting with a knee to the head that opened up a nasty cut on Smith’s forehead.
The referee immediately stopped the fight and called in the doctor, and the fight was called seconds later, giving Towler the title win.
The main event saw Peter Irving challenging John Maguire for the Welterweight title.
The only fight on the broadcast to go the three round distance looked to be an interesting back and forth affair. We saw some good striking from both men and some nice ground work as well, with Maguire going for a kimura in the final minute, and Irving looking completely chilled out in the hold as the fight came to an end.
So with the fight going the distance the judges came into play, with all three giving the fight to Maguire.
In conclusion—on the day the British mainstream press were beginning their latest uninformed assault on the world of mixed martial arts I would like to say that UCMMA came along with another quality show.
That’s what I’d like to say. Don’t get me wrong, there were some good performances shown here, but we television fans didn’t get to see everything.
Little cuts to the footage were made here and there, so five minute rounds were drastically shortened, and the main event between Maguire and Irving was so clipped it was hard to follow the action, spoiling what looked like a tremendous fight.
Now I know that UCMMA had to do this because of the time limitations, but surely some of the non-title fights could have been left off the show.
Perhaps in the future they could try and get either a longer time slot or a live broadcast on Sky Sports. After all, it’s been a few years since Paul Daley swore on live post-watershed Saturday night television. Surely Sky Sports have forgiven them by now!
So in all I’m afraid that the 23rd show under Dave O’Donnell’s UCMMA banner (or is it Cage Rage again now?) gets the thumbs down. I so wanted to enjoy this. I really did.
DARE, Thailand’s only Pro Mixed Martial Arts promotion, recently announced that they would award an incredible $1 million in prize money to the winners of their tournaments. There are eight 16-man tournaments in total, meaning that the winner …
DARE, Thailand’s only Pro Mixed Martial Arts promotion, recently announced that they would award an incredible $1 million in prize money to the winners of their tournaments.
There are eight 16-man tournaments in total, meaning that the winner of each will take home $125,000. There are, literally, no prizes for second place, and fights will continue to take place at DARE events until a winner in each of the eight weight classes is found.
The first event took place at Club Insomnia in Bangkok on June 25th, and a number of fighters booked their places in the quarterfinals including Thai featherweight Ngoo Ditty, Korean lightweight Brian Choi and French middleweight Yoann Gouiada.
The next show is scheduled for September 24th in the same venue and will feature seven more fights with the winner of each progressing to the quarterfinals. One of the main events will be a welterweight contest between unbeaten Swedish fighter “SLAYER” —Wiktor Svensson who trains at Tiger Muay Thai and MMA in Phuket—and “HAJA”—Krysztof Hajtalowicz from Poland who will represent Golden Triangle International Martial Arts in Chiang Mai.
There will also be a number of Thai fighters making their professional debuts, including former national Judo champion “BODIN” —Bodin Panjabutra. He will compete against BJJ black belt “PROFESSOR” Rodrigo Praxedes in the welterweight tournament.
The welterweight division looks set to be one of the most competitive and also features another main fight of the evening between Malaysian former Muay Thai champion “SHOGUN” Adam Kayoom and Korean One Fighting Championship veteran “KIM” Seok Mo Kim. Kayoom has also won numerous BJJ titles and is a long-term Bangkok resident who is likely to bring a lot of fans to the Insomnia Night Club.
All the fighters know that a place in the quarterfinals of their respective tournament is at stake, and that they are only four wins away from claiming their share in an incredible $1 million prize money.
The event will also be streamed live on the Internet at www.darelive.tv and will be available to view for an online pay per view price of $4.95.
“DARE is going to take the experience of watching MMA into a new level and the first step for us is to start the online streaming of DARE events, live from the original fight capital of the world, Bangkok. This is the first time that MMA is broadcasted in Thailand in any live form and what better incentive could there be for fighters to win than the possibility of getting their share from the million dollars.”
It’s time to step into the world of British MMA again as we take a look at the latest offering from the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts, with former UFC stars Frank Trigg, Paul Daley and Andre Winner featuring in BAMMA 7, shown live on …
It’s time to step into the world of British MMA again as we take a look at the latest offering from the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts, with former UFC stars Frank Trigg, Paul Daley and Andre Winner featuring in BAMMA 7, shown live on SyFy this past Saturday night here in Britain.
The broadcast began in the lightweight division as Jason Ball faced Andre Winner.
This all-British affair proved to be a rather intriguing battle. Nothing much happened in the first round, apart from a clinch against the cage in which Winner delivered a series of hammer fists to Ball’s thigh. It was as if they were treating it as a sparring session.
Things were turned up a notch in the second, as both men seemed to fight with a little more intensity, with Winner getting the take down before Ball managed to reverse later on.
Ball really needed to do something big in the final round but he just couldn’t get out of first gear. He managed to get a takedown but it wasn’t long before Winner took the guard and opened up a cut above Ball’s right eye.
With the fight going the distance the judges were called into action, with all three giving everything to Winner.
Title action followed as Carl Noon faced Jack Marshman for the vacant Lonsdale British Middleweight title.
Now this was more like it. Noon dominated the first round, throwing a punch then scoring with the take down and unleashing with the ground and pound. His attack was relentless as he bloodied and swelled Marshman’s left eye. It was a dominant performance.
Until the start of the second round that is. After the doctor checked Marshman’s eye and allowed him to continue he gradually took control, unleashing with some great shots in the stand up game, and as the round went on Noon began to tire drastically, so much so that at the end of the round his second had to lift him into his stool.
The third round saw Marshman continue his onslaught. Noon was exhausted, and there were a few points where he put his hands on his knees and took in some deep breaths. Marshman soon took Noon down, and it wasn’t long before the referee finally stepped in to save Noon from Marshman’s ground and pound, giving Marshman the title winning TKO win.
It was down to welterweight for the next fight as Jordan Radev faced Paul Daley.
Given Daley’s past weaknesses in the ground game, you would have thought that Radev would have taken him down early on, but that wasn’t the case.
For two rounds, we had what could only be described as a brawl. Daley threw everything bar the kitchen sink and the Bulgarian, but not matter what he did Radev kept coming back for me, and at times he gave as good as he got. It wasn’t pretty but it certainly was intriguing to watch.
It wasn’t until the third round when Radev decided to take the fight to the ground, and once there Daley looked like fish out of water again, seemingly unable to do anything as Radev went for the ground and pound. Daley managed to kick his man off when he postured up but Radev was soon back in Daley’s guard seconds later, and even though he dominated on the ground it just wasn’t enough.
That’s the way the judges saw it as well, with Daley earning the unanimous decision in one of his toughest fights over the past few years.
The main event featured middleweight action as Frank Trigg went up against Jimmy Wallhead.
Originally, Trigg was meant to be challenging Tom Watson for the BAMMA Middleweight title, but when Kong was injured in training Wallhead was called in as a replacement.
The big money was on Trigg to win this one. Unfortunately for him, Wallhead hadn’t read the script. After a lengthy feeling out period at the beginning of the first round, Wallhead rocked Trigg with a big left hook, and the ensuing ground and pound opened up a cut underneath Trigg’s right eye.
Trigg came back in the second round with some crisp striking, but Wallhead was more than able to keep up with him, and it made for great viewing as they unleashed with their combinations.
Wallhead put in some more good work in the third round, and to the surprise of many he finally got past Trigg’s defence and scored with the take down. The groundwork didn’t last that long but as the fight came to an end it was apparent to everyone in attendance that Wallhead was getting the better of the veteran.
The judges were called into action once again, and while one of them scored in favour of Trigg, the other two gave the fight to Wallhead, giving him the majority decision.
In conclusion, once again the BAMMA crew have given us another good show, and while some of the action wasn’t exactly pretty it was great to watch, with the three rounder between Trigg and Wallhead the highlight of the night for me. I have to admit that I thought Trigg would take the fight, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the Brit take the win, leaving me to wonder if he’s next in line now for a shot at Tom Watson’s title when the Kong man is fit again.
Production wise it was as good as ever, although they did come back slightly late from a commercial break before the third round of the main event, and it would have been nice if they’d had an on-screen countdown clock.
So in all BAMMA 7 gets the thumbs up from this particular writer, and hopefully they’ll continue to deliver the quality at their next show in December.
It’s time to step into the world of British mixed martial arts again, but this time with a slight difference, as Cage Warriors presented their latest show, Fight Night 2, in Amman, Jordan, shown live on Premier Sports this past Thursday evening h…
It’s time to step into the world of British mixed martial arts again, but this time with a slight difference, as Cage Warriors presented their latest show, Fight Night 2, in Amman, Jordan, shown live on Premier Sports this past Thursday evening here in Britain.
The broadcast began in the lightweight division as Conor McGregor faced Aron Jahnsen.
With McGregor’s last two fights lasting a combined total of 20 seconds, everyone was expecting a quick win. The Irishman looked like he was going for a quickie when he connected as soon as the bell rang, but after a feeling out period the fighters engaged in a clinch against the cage. This exchange saw Jahnsen going for a guillotine that McGregor easily escaped from.
Moments later the fight went to the ground, and it wasn’t long before McGregor unloaded with the heavy ground and pound stuff, with Jahnsen unable to defend himself the referee stepped in to give McGregor the TKO win.
More lightweight action followed, with the debuting Zack Stratton taking on James Saville.
This one lasted less than a minute. Saville went for a couple of high kicks, with Stratton countering with a take down. The only problem was that Saville quickly went for the leg triangle and, despite his efforts to escape, Stratton soon succumbed to the inevitabletapping out to give Saville the submission win.
Then it was up to the welterweight division, as Cathal Pendred faced Danny Mitchell.
The first fight of the show to go the distance proved to be an entertaining back and forth contest. Pendred managed to control the action early on, reading Mitchell’s strikes extremely well, and even slamming him off one of them in the first round.
From round two onwards we saw a war of attrition with clinches against the cage. Mitchell took the fight to the ground and tried to sink in a heel hook in the second, but time was against him.
The most dramatic moment came in the third as Mitchell took Pendred down with a pile driver, a move illegal in MMA. However, he was lucky enough to get away a warning rather than a points deduction.
So after three rounds of great action the judges came into play. One judge gave the fight to Mitchell, while the other two scored it even, making this a majority draw. We’ll probably see these two against each other again soon.
History was made next, with the first ever woman’s MMA fight in Jordan, made at a catchweight of 132lbs, between Aisling Daly and Angela Hayes.
The blink and you’ll miss it affair saw Daly coming forward straight away with a series of blows. Hayes countered with a takedown, but quickly found herself tapping out to Daly’s arm bar in just 20 seconds. Nice stuff.
Then it was up to the middleweight division, as Mike Ling went up against Jack Hermansson.
As soon as the fight began, Ling caught Hermansson with a blow to the face that bloodied his nose. From there the Norwegian scored with a quick take down, and although he showed some good work on the ground it wasn’t long before they got back to their feet.
It was then that they engaged in a slug fest, both men swinging for the fences with some wild brawling before Hermansson staggered Ling. He soon followed him to the mat for some ground and pound, knocking him out after a barrage of fists and elbows for a great looking KO win.
The main event saw Arni Isaksson facing Gael Grimaud for the vacant CWFC welterweight title.
This was the fight of the night for me. Grimaud began strongly with some nice blows before Isaksson countered with a clinch.
After this we saw some nice back and forth action on the ground, especially from Grimaud in the second round. He tired Isaksson up in knots, wearing him out with a body lock and looking for a rear naked choke, before eventually going for the ground and pound towards the end of the round. With the “Ice Viking” offering nothing in reply, the referee wisely stepped in to give Grimaud the highly impressive TKO title win.
With a little time to kill an earlier fight was shown, the lightweight fight between Merv Mulholland and Amir Gerandokov.
Fast paced back and forth action was the order of the day in this one. Gerandokov came forward early with some combinations, and when the fight went to the ground we saw plenty of transitions and submission attempts. It made for thrilling viewing, but it wasn’t long before Mulholland gained control as he took Gerandokov’s back and sunk in a rear naked choke for the submission win.
In conclusion—this is the first time I’ve seen some of the current Cage Warriors stuff, and I have to admit I was pretty impressed.
The fighters gave the Jordanian fans a quality show, with great fights and performances throughout, topped off nicely by Gael Grimaud’s highly impressive title winning performance.
As for the production values, they’ve certainly come a long way since those early shows, and it ranks right up there with their UCMMA and BAMMA counterparts. Kudos must also go to commentators, John Gooden and Josh Palmer, for their quality performances behind the microphone. They could possibly be the best team in the country at the moment.
So, in all, Cage Warriors Fight Night 2 gets the thumbs up for a very good show, and a thumbs up to the Premier Sports channel as well for giving this event away for free. Let’s hope they do the same when Cage Warriors present their next show on October 1st. We can but hope.
As we continue down the weight chart ranking the best the world of mixed martial arts has to offer, outside of the control of Zuffa, we begin to see a more international trend.Globalization has long been a goal of Zuffa, but in reality, the globalizati…
As we continue down the weight chart ranking the best the world of mixed martial arts has to offer, outside of the control of Zuffa, we begin to see a more international trend.
Globalization has long been a goal of Zuffa, but in reality, the globalization of MMA has been happening for decades. While the UFC name has taken the sport by storm, the reality is, the sport existed long before the acronym reached the level of the NFL, NBA or MLB.
Bellator has been snatching up these international talents left and right, showing not only the talent of their scouting division, but just how deep they are willing to reach to bring in talent untouched by the Zuffa companies.
How many Americans managed to crack this month’s rankings?
The Minneapolis-based Mixed Martial Arts event, “Riot at the Hyatt” was a packed house by the end of the show. There were, however, two stand out performances of the night that many fans who showed up late may have missed.